Konoha Horror Story
by Ca11umism
Summary: When fifteen year old Sakura Haruno and her family move into a two hundred year old mansion in the small town of Konoha, she discovers a plethora of supernatural creatures inhabit the town,  all of which want Sakura for their own grisly plans.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** _Hello, welcome to my new fic-_**KONOHA HORROR STORY**_. Before you get started, I wanted to make a few_ _things clear_.

**1**) _Even though the title is _**KONOHA HORROR STORY**_ (which is obviously a reference to the T.V show) it isn't_ _based on that show. I consider it more of a _**TRUE BLOOD**_-esque story, as it features a vast collection of_ _Supernatural beasties._

**2)** _Some of you cats may not agree with my decision to make Tsunade and Jiraya an...'Item?'...I think that's the_ _term you kids are using these days. Just remember...IT'S ONLY A STORY...just try and enjoy it, Kay?._

**3)** _Hinata and Neji's eyes are brown in this, not pearl. The reason for that will be revealed if the story catches __your fancy enough to read that far._

**4)** _Finally, there will be moments when the characters are OOC. Don't hate me for it, it's nescessary to fit the_ _story, and please don't don't berate me when your favorite Nin does something he or she wouldn't even think_ _about in the Manga/Anime._

_That's it. Sit back, relax, and READ AND REVIEW!...Danks_. **-CA11UMISM-**

**-KONOHA HORROR STORY-**

Sakura stopped breathing and huddled her tiny frame against the cupboard wall. Silent, she listened as the monster that had been hunting her stomped along the landing outside, the hooked claws that protruded from it's paw like feet splintering the oak floorboards with each muffled footstep.

Her green eyes spyed the crack at the base of the door, watching the shadow come and go as the beast walked by, and began whispering to herself that it was all just a terrible dream, and that any second she'd wake up and he'd be there with her, watching over her as she slept.

That hope quickly evaporated as the footsteps outside halted, blocking the faint light that crept from underneath the door, indicating to sakura where the beast was.

She stopped breathing again, thinking that if she did so it'd lose track of her and walk off, but instead let out a scream out as a set of claws suddenly burst through the door's wooden panels. The monster was trying to tear down the door. Sakura watched, motionless, her fear filled green eyes glued to the sharp talons that split the wood more any more with each passing second.

**"BAMM**"

The sound of a door slamming broke the tension. The beast stopped tearing at the door, and the claws disappeared from Sakura's view. Relieved, she gasped, letting what little air that was left in her lungs out, before begining to breath normally again.

She stood up-still needing to hunch in order to fit in the small cupboard-and took a step towards the door. Placing her slender fingers around the brass knob, she looked out through the small holes the creature's claws had made mere moments before. There was no sign of the beast, giving the girl her much needed relief, and she turned the knob slghtly, hearing a slight click as the mechanism unlocked the door.

She stopped again, listening to the silence of the house for any sign that the creature was near, then cautiously pushed the door open and creeped out into the hall, looking around the door for the beast and finding nothing.

This was her chance. She turned and began sprinting up the hall towards the front door as fast as she possibly could, just managing to reach the entrance hall as the snarls began again. It didn't hinder her though. She wasn't stopping for anything.

Sakura was running so fast she almost slipped on the floor as she reached the front door, but managed to regain her balance by grasping the door knob. She twisted it and yanked the large oak door open just as the beast roared, scaring Sakura and making her turn her head to find the monstrous dog bounding up the hall at her, jumping, and flying through the air towards the teen, giving the girl barely enough time to drop out of the way.

The dog collided with the door just as Sakura hit the floor, it's gigantic body clashing with the portal and sending a thick split through the wood, stunning the creature at the same time. This gave Sakura a moment to recuperate, but not enough for her liking. Within seconds, she found herself leaping up the stairs three at a time and turning down the hall, then up the attic staircase where she began banging on the door.

"HELP...SASUKE HELP ME PLEASE!..." she cried through her tears, her fists slamming against the peeling wood with as much strength as her five foot four frame could muster.

"SASUKE!...LET ME IN SAS..." She stopped as another vicious snarl came from the bottom of the attic staircase.

The girl looked over her shoulder with horror in her eyes as the seven foot long monster began slowly crawling on all fours up the enclosed staircase, it's greyish blue eyes glued to the terrified teen.

"Sa-asuke?..." she whimpered. "Please...le-let me in..."

She fell against the attic door, crying, as the stench of wet dog and roadkill filled her nostrils, and the monster raised it's razor sharp claw in order to end her life.

**0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0**

**-CHAPTER ONE-**

"Sak?...Sakura, we're here..."

The girl didn't respond. She didn't care that they were there at all. To her, the dilapidated general stores and cracked, pothole ridden roads were nothing more than another swift kick in the face to the girl and what she'd been forced to leave behind back home.

But that didn't seem to get through to her step-brother. "Sakura?" the blonde boy began shoving her with his elbow. "Did you hear?"

She shook her shoulder-pushing the boy's arm away from her. "Yes, I heard...I just don't care." The boy looked at her for a moment, then turned without another word to look out the window on his side of the car.

An 'awwh' came from the front seat. Sakura's step-father. "Don't be that way Sakura...this will be fun, won't it?"

Sakura turned to face the back of her new step-father's head. "Fun?...How will this be fun?...You've just made us move to the other side of the country...to some stupid mansion in the middle of no where..."

"Sakura...be quiet..." her mother said from the seat in front of her, but that didn't stall the girl.

"...For what? inspiration for another one of your ridiculous bo...?"

"SAKURA HARUNO!," her mother shouted, sending the pink haired girl silent and making her brother jump in his seat. "DON'T YOU DARE SAY ANOTHER WORD!..." Sakura watched her mother with her mouth open, anger in her green eyes, before biting her lip and falling back into her seat, crossing her arms and looking out the window at the town that passed them by.

"Now, I understand that this situation isn't the most ideal for the two of you, but it's only until Jiraiya finishes his book, okay?..." the woman said from the front seat. "Six months, at most...then we'll move back home again."

"What about school, granny Tsunade?" Sakura's brother said from his side of the car.

"Naruto, don't call me granny Tsunade...and there's a school here!...you'll make new friends, instead of those two you have back home!"

"But I like Lee and Chouji," Naruto said.

"I know...but that doesn't mean some new friends will be a bad thing." Tsunade smiled over her shoulder at the boy.

"What about you mom?...where are you going to work?..." Sakura said-a little spite in her voice. Tsunade was the first chairwoman of the general hospital back home.

"Last month I got hold of the practitioner here in town. He promised me a job for a couple of months while we're here."

Sakura shook her head. She couldn't believe that her mother-the most respected female doctor on the west coast-would be willing to move to the other side of the country for some crappy writer she'd been married to for less than a month, known for less than six, and take up a job in a tiny little clinic for some old fart.  
>Tsunade turned to look at her daughter through the small space at the base of the headrest. "See?...it will all work out."<p>

Saukra shook her head and turned to to look her window once again, watching the various stores and buildings pass them by.

**0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0**

Fifteen minutes of pure silence later, Jiraya turned the station wagon off the main road and onto a much older one, not even half the width of the main road. For a few minutes all that surorunded them was forrest brush-made up of trees, shrubs and a multitude of brightly coloured flowers-until a large wrought iron fence that had been taken over by the brush came into view on the left side of the car.

"Here we are!" Jiraya said, smiling as he leant forward to look out at the gate from behind the windshield. "That fence marks the border of the Uchiha estate." The four inhabitants of the station wagon eyed the fencing as the car travelled by it. The brush that covered the iron pikes grew thinner and thinner as the car approached the main gate.

It was almost a kilometer between the start of the fencing and the entrance gate, and when the station wagon did finally pull off the old road and through the gate-which was made of the same iron pikes as the fence, but at least twice the height. It borded a smll hill, on top of which sat one of the most amazing sights Sakura had ever seen.

Four stories tall, it was surrounded by a slew of bright green conifers and a field of coloured flowers. It was made from old red bricks-most likely the original building materials-but there was very little damage that could be seen. In fact, apart from the obvious victorian architecture, it looked almost brand new. Sakura couldn't deny that it was a beautiful house. It seemed like something out of Wuthering Heights or some other book of that kind, where epic tales of romance took place, but she seriously doubted that any kind romance would happen here.

Unless you counted Jiraya's romance stories of course. But that wasn't the kind of romance Sakura had in mind.

As the car pulled up out front, the large wooden portal opened and a young woman with dark hair walked out. "Who's that?" Naruto asked, furrowing his brow as the dark haired woman began waving.

"That must be miss Shizune," Jiraya said, waving back at the woman. "She's the caretaker and housekeeper here," The white haired man turned the ignition off and undid his seatbelt. "Come on, it's been a long drive and I for one want nothing more than a nice shower and a good meal."

The other three family members followed suit, undoing their seatbelts and climbing out of the car. Shizune descended the half dozen stairs and shook hands with Jiraya. "It's a pleasure to meet you mister Jiraya sir." she said in a high pitched voice, smiling brightly as she spoke.

"The pleasure's all mine. This is my family, Tsunade, my lovely wife," Tsunade blushed as she shook Shizune's hand. "My son Naruto," Naruto shook hands with the woman with his mouth open-Which embarassed Sakura, but she couldn't blame him. The woman was gorgeous close up. "And last but not least, my step-daughter Sakura." Sakura gave a quick 'hey' and leant over Naruto's shoulders to shake Shizune's hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," the woman said, smiling even wider with her dark eyes closed. "Now, I'm sure that you just want to get unpacked and settle in, but I must ask you to come inside first. I've prepared a lunch for you to celebrate your arrival."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Lunch?"

Sakura sighed. Her step-brother always thought with his stomach.

"Yes Naruto. I am the cook, after all." the black haired woman smiled once again, then stood back and gestured for them to go inside. Naruto literally hopped up the stairs and disappeared into the mansion, Jiraya chased after him. But when Sakura went to follow them, She felt an arm on her shoulder.

"Sakura?, I want to talk to you for a moment." Tsunade said, turning the girl and leaning down to be face to face with her.

"What is it?" the fifteen year old asked, eyeing her mother.

"I want to talk about this," she looked up at the house as Shizune followed Jiraya inside.

Sakura rolled her eyes and looked off to a collection of trees to their left. "Now I know you're angry about us moving, that moment in the car was enough to tell me so, but you need to know that this is important to Jiraya," Sakura licked her teeth, forcing herself to hold her tongue. "And that means it's important to me," this caught the girl off guard. "So I'm asking you...for me...try to make the best of it?"

Sakura's green eyes met her mother's brown ones, and she nodded. "Ok mom. For you, I'll try and enjoy it." Tsunade smiled.

"That's my girl." she gave her daughter a brief hug, then wrapped her arms around the girl's shoulders and walked with her up the stairs and into the house.

**0ooo0ooo0ooo0**


	2. Chapter 2

**-KONOHA HORROR STORY-**

**-CHAPTER 2-**

Sakura's promise to her mother was made much easier by the sight that met her as she pushed open the door.

Her emerald eyes widened as a magnificent entrance hall the height of not only the first, but second floor of the mansion as well, met them. Each of the walls-coloured a rich maroon-were covered by a vast collection of extravagant oil paintings, some five foot tall portraits, some tiny, cd case sized pictures of cows and landscapes.

The oak floor beneath them was covered by a thick persian rug-burgundy with a gold coloured diamond pattern-that lead all the way up the wide staircase standing in the middle, which split off at the landing, where two more sets of stairs lead towards the east and west wings of the mansion.

It all came together to form an absolutely gorgeous sight, but what made Sakura's jaw droop was the magnificent golden chandelier that hung above them, with dozens of bulbs shining like little stars with their light.

"See, I told you you'd like it." Her mother said, smiling when she noticed Sakura's mouth was hanging slightly open. The girl closed her mouth abruptly when her mother spoke, embarassed. "I saw that..." the older woman said, pointing her finger at her daughter.

"Yeah, well...it is a beautiful house." Sakura admitted. There was no reason to lie now, her mother knew she liked the place.

"See, I told you it would be interesting!" Tsunade grinned, her hands still on her daughter's shoulders, and continued pushing her up the hall. "You'll be able to explore the house as much as possible during our stay. There's the lake out back as well...we'll need to check of course, but I'm pretty sure you can swim in it." the woman emphasized everything in such a way that it made it seem as if the she had taken Sakura to a luxury health spa in France. It made Sakura laugh.

"GRANNY...CHECK OUT THE SPREAD!"

Naruto's voice drifted in from one of the rooms to the left, indicating to Sakura and her mother where the dining room was. Upon entering, they found the two male members of their family sitting at a large ornate dining table, digging into a feast of chicken, pork, noodles, vegetables, fruit, and a vast assortment of other mouthwatering foods that made Sakura lick her lips.

"Aren't you hungry?," Sakura looked up to see Shizune enter the room from a door behind Jiraya, a large pot in her arms. "I've just made some Minestrone." she smiled the same way she did outside, where her eyes closed and her head tilted to the side.

"Shizune!," Tsunade gasped as she followed Sakura into the dining room. "You didn't have to go to so much trouble on our account!" the blonde walked around the table to the right of her husband.

"Oh, it's no worry missus Tsunade. Three days drive eating nothing but junk must have made you miss a nice homecooked meal." The dark haired cook smiled that same tilted face smile again, and began ladling soup into a bowl for Naruto-who looked like he was in heaven.

"I thank you for it miss Shizune," Jiraya said with his mouth full of garlic potato. "Tsu, try this." he held up his fork-which had some of the potatos on it-and she leant down and wrapped her lips around it, smiling as she chewed.

"S'good" she said, sitting down and helping herself to some bread.

Shizune finished serving out the soup, then placed the pot in it's place on the table. "Alright, help yourself to as much as you'd like, I'll come back and clean later." she gave her smile, then turned to head out the door.

"You're not going to eat with us?" Naruto asked, chicken and peas visible in his mouth as he spoke.

"No, I'll eat in the kitchen,"

Jiraya shook his head. "Nonsense! You're more than welcome to eat with us...you can tell us about the house." he stood up and held out a chair for the woman-who smiled and sat down.

"Thankyou," she began scooping out another bowl of soup for herself.

Sakura looked over the dining room as she sat. It was decorated in the same manner as the hall, with paintings all over the walls and a large fire place behind Shizune. Her eyes were drawn to the painting that hung above it, a family portrait of a stunning black haired woman in a navy dress, sitting in a chair surrounded by three men. Each looked exactly alike, jet black hair and matching eyes, flawlessly pale skin and high, sharp cheek bones. They also wore the exact same thing, a Navy suit with a blood red cravate.

"Who're they?" she asked, pointing with her fork to the portrait. Shizune turned in her seat to look up at it, then smiled to Sakura.

"They're the Uchiha's. Fugaku, his wife, and their sons Itachi and Sasuke."

"They owned this place?" Naruto mumbled, still chewing on a pork rasher.

Shizune nodded. "Fugaku's father built the house in Eighteen-Fourty, and passed it on to his son when he died. He and his wife raised their sons here until they moved in Eigtheen-Eighty..."

"Why'd they move?" Naruto cut in.

"Naruto let her talk." Jiraya snapped.

Shizune just smiled again. "It's okay, mister Jiraya...The reason they moved Naruto, is actually why this building is regarded as one of the most haunted in the country." this got the attention of everyone at the table, who glued their eyes to the woman.

"You see him?," she pointed to the young man on the right of the portrait. "That's Sasuke Uchiha, Fugaku's youngest son. You see, on his seventeenth birthday, Sasuke went missing. It took hours to find him. People searched the grounds, the lake, some even went down to the village. But he wasn't anywhere. It wasn't until one of their maids went up to the attic that night that they found him, hanging by his neck from the roof supports..."

Sakura dropped her fork. "He killed himself?"

The black haired woman shook her head, looking at each of her guests as she did so."That's what they thought at first, but when the police came to investigate, they found something that makes the story even more interesting. You see, while searching the house for signs of why Sasuke killed himself, they discovered a collection of occult books and memorabilia..."

"so, what does that mean?"

"They didn't find it in Sasuke's room. They found it his brother Itachi's room."

Sakura shook her head. "I still don't get it, why's that so important?"

Shizune lay down her spoon and looked Sakura directly in the eye. "When the police questioned Itachi, he revealed he killed Sasuke for a ritual known as the 'Sharingan'. Itachi believed that by killing his brother he could gain the Sharingan eye."

"What's the Sharingan eye?" Tsunade questioned, furrowing her brow at the woman.

"From what I know, it's a symbol in black magic, where your eyes become permanently crimson red and you gain supernatural magic abilities." Shizune smiled again, then went back to eating.

"Supernatural eyes?" Naruto scoffed. "There's no such thing as magic."

"Perhaps Naruto," Shizune smirked. "But ever since then, there have been hundreds of sightings of Sasuke Uchiha in this house, cursing his brother's name for the crime comitted against him. In fact, his father saw him so many times after that night, that he moved out with his wife less than a month afterwards and never stepped foot on the grounds again."

"That's why we're here," Jiraya smiled. "My new novel is going to based on the events that occured here."

"Wow," Sakura said, looking up at the stoic young man in the painting. "What happened to Itachi?"

"That's a mystery as well. See, no one really knows where Itachi went. Some say he was hanged in secret, some say he gained his Sharingan, used it's powers to escape prison and fled north, but the most common theory is that Itachi rotted in prison for the rest of his days."

"That's so sad," Sakura said, half to herself.

Shizune nodded in agreement, and went back to her soup.

Lunch went on, Shizune told them where they were allowed to go in the mansion-they weren't allowed to go swimming in the lake, or explore the attic without Shizune or their parents. But apart from that, everything was open to them.

"See," Tsunade said to her daughter as Shizune explained the rules to them. "I told you that you'll have fun here."

Sakura just smiled in response. "When do we start school?"

"It's Saturday, so you have tomorrow off, but on Monday I'll take you down and register you and Naruto before I go to work." The blonde helped herself to another pile of garlic potatoes.

When almost everything was gone and her guests were full, Shizune lead Naruto and Sakura up the large staircase and to the west wing, where she issued rooms to the teens, right next to each other. "Here we are, if you need anything, more blankets or another pillow, you just tell me okay?," the dark haired woman insisted. Sakura nodded as she surveyed the was roughly the same size as her room back home, but the bed was a gigantic four poster with an ebony canopy, and there was a window seat on the far side of the room, cut into a U shape in the middle to compensate for the circular window in the wall.

"I will, thankyou."

Shizune smiled and left the girl to unpack. She felt no need to rush the task, she was here for six months whether she liked it or not. Afterwards, it was near on three, and she and Naruto asked their mother if they could go explore the village. Tsunade allowed it, but only if they were back by dinner, so, as soon as the girl had changed, she and her brother walked down the gravel path to the street and headed the way they'd driven in.

"Pretty scary huh Sak?," Naruto said ten or so minutes after they'd left the gates. "We might see a ghost," he chuckled, clearly sarcastic. Sakura, who'd been counting the paces from the gate to the village, and had kept her eyes on her feet, just shrugged.

"I think it's sad."

"Why?," Naruto scoffed, his toothy grin showing. "There's no such thing as ghosts or ghouls. That Uchiha guy isn't a ghost wandering the halls looking for his brother."

"It's still sad Naruto," Sakura said, annoyed with the boy's lack of sympathy. "He didn't even get to see eighteen. Imagine if you couldn't."

Naruto took this to heart, even though it wasn't Sakura's intention, so the two fell silent for the rest of the walk. Fortunately the animosity disappeared almost as soon as the two entered the village fifteen minutes later.

Konoha wasn't what you'd call 'extravagant'. You could walk from one side to the other in less than an hour if you kept a steady pace, but Sakura had no clue why anyone would want to do that largest building seemed to be the town hall, which towered over the rest of the village. A large painted sign hung over the top of it, but it did more to keep the teens away than invite them in. They found a small library placed between the general store and a tobacconists, but Naruto said they didn't have time to go in and have a look, so Sakura was reluctantly dragged from it.

They'd actually gotten quite bored with the town by the time they reached the school-two floors, but roughly the same size as the manor-and were delighted to find a group of youths hanging out by the small football pitch beyond it. There were five of them, two boys and three girls, and they each looked up to them as the two approached.

"Hiya!," Naruto waved as they approached.

"Hello," one of the boys said in a calm voice, watching them with a pair of chocolate brown eyes. He was the tallest of the group the second being a girl with her hair in two brown buns. "Can I help you?"

"I'm Naruto and this is my sister Sak," the blonde said, holding out his hand. Sakura was amazed at her step-brother's confidence. Or maybe it was stupidity, she hadn't quite figured him out yet.

The brown eyed boy watched him for a moment, then took Naruto's hand in his own, shaking it briefly and letting go. "I've not seen you around here before," he spoke so politely, so refined, like a royal. "Are you new in Konoha?"

Naruto nodded. "Yup, we just moved into that mansion up the hill," the blonde pointed over towards the end of town that they'd come in from.

"The Uchiha's place?," the shorter girl cut in. She was blonde, and intimidatingly pretty, with sky blue eyes and porcelain like skin. "why would anyone want to live there? isn't it all spiderwebs and stuff?"

"Not really," Sakura shrugged. "The housekeeper's actually kept it in really good condition." she felt nervous around the blonde, she was easily the prettiest girl Sakura had ever seen, and it made her feel inadequate.

"Oh," the girl said. "I would have thought such an old place would be dirty."

"Yeah, well, it's not."

"Oh," the blonde said again.

"Have you seen the ghost yet?," one of the other boys asked Naruto.

"You've heard about that?," Sakura asked him. He was taller than her, and had a messy head of black hair.

"Yeah," he said in a way that made Sakura think he was mocking her. "That's like, the whole reason people know Konoha exists."

"I know right?," the blonde girl said. "Everyone knows about Sasuke Uchiha."

"I saw him once," the black haired boy said. "I snuck onto the grounds last year and saw him in the window. Creepy lookin' dude."

The taller girl with the hair buns shook her head at him. "You're such a liar Kiba. You never snuck onto the grounds, and you never saw him."

"I did too!" Kiba said.

"Don't listen to Kiba," the brunette said to Sakura. "He always make stuff up."

Sakura nodded her head. Naruto was the same. "I know what you mean."

"I'm Tenten," the brunette with the buns said. "This is Ino," The blonde smiled a perfect smile. "Kiba," Kiba gave Sakura a grin. "Neji," the polite, brown haired boy shook Sakura's hand as well. "And that's Hinata," for the first time, the third girl looked up to Sakura and Naruto. Her hair was dark, and had a shade of violet to it. Her eyes, wide and round, were the same chocolate brown as Neji's.

"H-hello," she whispered, clearly nervous at meeting new people.

Sakura just waved to her. "Hi."

"Welcome t-to Konoha," she said again. It was obvious to Sakura that this girl was shy.

"Thanks."

A beep went off. "Oh, that's my watch," Naruto said, lifting his wrist to look at the small leather banded timepiece. "We've got to get back Sak. Granny's gonna be angry."

"Alright. Well, it was nice meeting you." Sakura said, turning away.

"Maybe we'll see you around," Tenten smiled. Sakura liked this girl already. "Will you be going to school while you're here?."

"Yeah, our mom's going to sign us up on Monday."

"Cool, maybe I'll see you then."

"Okay," Sakura said. She wasn't sure what to say at the moment. "Until then?,"

Tenten smiled again. "Until then."

Naruto gave Neji a thumbs up, then turned and follwed Sakura off the sports field. "They seem cool," he said. "Maybe it won't be so bad around here?"

"Yeah," Sakura agreed. "Maybe it won't."

**0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0**


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I don't own Clockwork Angel, Cassandra Clare does.

CHAPTER 3:

Their first dinner at Uchiha manor wasn't as extravagant as the lunch, but Shizune had cooked up three huge beef mince pies, mashed potatoes and beans and that was more than enough to fill Sakura up. Afterwards, she offered to help Shizune with the dishes, but the woman had flat out said no, so the teen retired to her room and buried her head in a book, _'Clockwork Angel'_ by an author named Cassandra Clare.

She loved books, they had always been a way for Sakura to get away from the world. Her father's death mostly. He'd died when Sakura was thirteen, and she thought about the man everyday. This one was about a girl in the late nineteenth century who travels to London to find her missing brother, and discovers that she's a shapeshifter. Sakura was only a dozen or so pages in, but it had already caught her attention enough that she could hardly put it down.

In fact, she became so enamored in her book, that she didn't realise how fast the time went. When she finally took her eyes from the book and peeked at her alarm clock, she realised it was well after midnight. _'That's odd,_' she thought to herself. Usually reading made her sleepy, it was part of her evening ritual before bed. But tonight, she didn't even feel fatigued.

She dog-eared her book and lay it down on the covers, then climbed off her four poster and stretched her arms. Through her small circular window, she could see the drive leading from the house down to the gate. Dozens of plastic lanterns lined the driveway, glowing faintly in the night and illuminating the drive and surrounding garden.

She crept out into the hallway, careful not to wake her step-brother, descended the stairs and went through the dining room into the kitchen. She took a clean glass from the dishrack by the sink, and poured herself a glass of milk from the jug in the double wide fridge. A bowl of fresh fruit sat on the counter, and she took a pear from the top.

Pulling out one of the tall stools that sat by the counter, she climbed up onto it and began her snack, biting into the pear and relishing the sweet taste. Her eyes found their way to the window behind the sink, where Sakura could see the lake in the distance. The moon hung in the sky above it, and the pale white rays reflected off the lake's surface, making for a beautiful view.

Sakura watched the lake as she ate, her green eyes following the ripples on the surface until something caught her eye. On the far side of the water, inside the fence, a person stood, watching Sakura. she couldn't make out if it was a man or a woman as the figure was wreathed in shadow, but she was certain it wasn't her eyes playing a trick on her. She dropped from the stool, and climbed around the counter to the window. She lost sight of the figure for a moment as she went around the countertop, and when she reached the sink, she found that the figure wasn't there anymore.

The person couldn't have been out of her sight for more than five seconds as she came around the counter, but had disappeared completely. She leant over the sink to look out the sides of the window, first to the left, then the right, but the figure wasn't there.

_'That's so odd,_' she thought.

**BAMMM**

A slam from somewhere else in the house made her turn her head from the window to the kitchen's doorway. The house fell silent again, and she turned back to the window, only to let out a cry as the shadowy figure looked back at her from right outside. The shock knocked her backward, she slipped on the tile floor and, in what felt like slow motion, fell backwards, her head on a collision course with edge of the counter...

And she woke up.

Her breathing was heavy and sweat lined her brow, but she was alright. The sun crept over her face as it came in through the window. It irritated her, and she let out a groan, but eventually found the strength to get out of bed. As she climbed off the four poster, she stood on her book, which lay opened on the floor, the cover bent under it's weight.

She picked it up and tossed it onto her bed as she began towards her door. lLetting out a small yawn as she passed Naruto's room, she peeked in, seeing her step-brother laying with his arm and head hanging off his four poster, mouth open and a thin trickle of drool seeping from his bottom lip.

Sakura just grinned to herself, then turned down the large staircase and heading towards the kitchen through the dining room. She found Shizune washing dishes. "Morning miss Sakura," the lady smiled as Sakura climbed up onto her stool. "How's poached eggs for breakfast?" Sakura smiled and nodded as Shizune left the sink for a pot on the hotplate. Taking a plastic spoon and ladling two eggs from the bottom of the pot, she sided them with two slices of fresh toast and butter, then lay them out in front of the teen.

"Thank you," Sakura smiled. She'd only just now realised how hungry she was. "Is my mom up yet?" she asked, taking up one of the eggs with a fork and smooshing it over the toast.

"Miss Tsunade left an hour ago," Shizune said cheerily, going back to washing her dishes. Sakura seemed puzzled by the answer. It made her wonder how long she'd slept. "She said she wanted to meet the physician in town before starting tomorrow."

Sakura took up her egg and bit into it. "And what about Jiraya?"

"He went to the library for some books about the house."

Sakura nodded, taking another bite. That left her at an impasse. She had planned to hang out with her mom that day, but now she had nothing on schedule. "What are you doing today?" she asked after a moment's thought.

Shizune hung the last of her dishes in the dishrack and wiped her hands with the dish-towel. "Well, I was going to move some things around in the attic, so your father has a decent work station...But that probably doesn't interest you."

"No!," Sakura said, her mouth full of egg. "I'd love to see the attic."

Shizune smiled as a reply, then nodded. "Okay, well...I'll head up now and get started. When you're finished, come on up...I'll show you the support beam where Sasuke Uchiha died!"

Sakura finished, dropped her plate in the sink, and headed up the staircase to the landing, taking the opposite direction to the one her room was in. The attic staircase was a third of the way down the hall. From the bottom, she could see the door was open, so she climbed the stairs and went inside.

The attic was even more dismal and depressing than she'd thought, even with the fact that a boy only a few years older than her died in here centuries ago. She could tell that the walls had been painted navy blue at some point in time, but the colour had faded and cracked so much that it looked like the set in a Tim Burton movie.

Several large support beams hung above her, angled downwards to compensate for the shape of the roof. Windows lined the spaces between the beams, each one covered in a film of dust and cobwebs to the point that she couldn't see outside.

_**CRASH**_

The sound of shattering glass made her heart skip a beat. Looking around an old dressmaker's dummy, she saw Shizune on the far side of the attic, grasping her hand. "Shizune?," she called, standing over a few old boxes as she made her way towards the woman. "What happened?"

Shizune turned to her, a tear in her eye as she grasped her hand. A heavy stream of blood fell between her fingers to the wooden slated floors. Sakura gasped at the sight. "What happened?" she ran the last few feet and took hold of the woman's hands in own.

"An old jar fell off the window sill."

"Then come downstairs!...We need to clean the blood off and dress it."

"No!..." Shizune pulled her hands away from the girl's grip.

Sakura was taken aback. "I'm sorry..I didn't mean to..."

"No, miss Sakura...I'll do it myself," Shizune walked past Sakura and headed towards the doorway. "Could you possibly pick up some of the glass?"

Sakura just nodded. "Y-yes..of course."

The pink haired teen turned to look at the shattered jar on the floor, a small pool of blood around it. She leant down and carefully began separating the larger pieces from the rest, placing them in a pile next to her. She was reaching for a particularly large piece; made of most of the base and one of the sides, when a flicker of light caught her eye.

It was a thin gold chain, in a small hole in the floor by the wall, hanging onto an old nail that jutted out of the wood. She reached out and wrapped her fingers around it, pulling it up through the floor. When it finally came into sight, Sakura's jaw drooped. A tiny little ornate lantern hung on the small gold chain. _It's absolutely beautiful_ she thought, pulling the little lantern up closer to her face. A faint 'snap' made her jump,and she realised the chain was still wrapped around the nail, and that she'd broken it.

_Damn_ she said to herself, looking at the split chain. Well, she could always find another one. Her eyes went back to the little lantern. It seemed to be made of some kind of thin metal, like copper of something of that kind. There was a tiny little door on the front and, upon opening it, she found a small red stone, marked with a small tomoe.

"I should have expected it..." Sakura turned to see Shizune enter the attic again, her hand wrapped in a series of grey bandages. "Bad things always happen on that side of the attic."

She pointed to the beam above Sakura, who looked up and let her mouth fall open. Almost directly above her, a frayed rope was wrapped around the sleeper, half of which had been cut off. "That's where..." the teen began, before being cut off by Shizune.

"That's where Sasuke Uchiha hung Two hundred years ago"

**-0ooo0ooo0ooo0ooo0-**

She'd showed her mother the little lantern as soon as she'd gotten home. "Ooh," she'd said. "That's pretty isn't it?...See, I told you you'd find something interesting here."

Sakura had to agree with her.

The lantern was one of the prettiest things she'd ever seen. Shizune told her that it was made of brass, not copper, and the little gem inside was a good luck charm. The housekeeper had also given her a small silver chain to replace the one she'd split on the nail, and helped her put it around her neck. "Keep this on at all times, miss Sakura," she'd said. "It will keep you safe."

Jiraya was extremely apologetic to Shizune about the jar shattering incident, believing he was to blame for getting her to do the moving instead of himself. To make up for it, Jiraya made dinner that night, and they supped on leek and ox-tail soup with sourdough bread. It was delicious, even Sakura admitted-though not to the man's face. She and Naruto did the dishes-Naruto 'shotgunned' drying and putting away, whatever 'shotgunning' was, and then they all turned it early due to it being their first day of school tomorrow.

Sakura read her book for a good two hours that night. She wasn't able to get to sleep this time, half out of fear of what would occur the next, half out of excitement. When she looked at her clock, she noticed it was after midnight, and forced herself to put down the book and try to get some sleep.

She turned off the small lamp and rolled onto her side, running her fingers over her new necklace.

It was then it happened.

She shot up in bed, listening carefully as the sound of footsteps came up the hallway. At first, she assumed it was Naruto, but her room was further up the hall than her stepbrother's, and Naruto wouldn't have the common decency to move quietly. She took the covers off of her body and crawled around the bed to her door, opening it a crack to peek outside, and letting out a gasp at what she saw.

A young man, clad in a dark suit, was walking up and down the hallway, pacing back and forth past the bedrooms, his hands clasped behind his back. He turned towards her bedroom door, and she tried to make out his face. His skin was incredibly pale, and his hair was blacker than the night sky. She couldn't see his eyes, but what she could make out was a red tie around his neck...no, not a tie, a cravate.

She gasped again when she realised something. This man was dressed exactly like the Uchiha men in the portrait downstairs. _Could this be?_ she thought a second, then shook her head. No, it wasn't the ghost of Sasuke Uchiha, that was ridiculous. In fact, it was probably Naruto in a costume he'd found in the attic, trying to scare her.

She whipped open the door and went to yell at her step brother, but the words didn't come out when she noticed that the figure had teleported from right outside her door to the edge of the staircase thirty feet up the hall.

At that moment, Sakura didn't know what to do. She thought about yelling at him, but didn't want to wake everyone, so instead, in a moment of what many would consider stupidity, she began to edge up the hall towards the man, who stood facing away from her, his hand resting on the wooden banister.

"Excuse me?..." she whispered as she got closer. The man didn't answer. "Mister?" she was less than a meter from him now, and she reached out to grip the man's shoulder.

"Who are you?..."

The man turned to face right as her fingers touched him. She barely had time to look directly into his black, souless eyes before she fell forward, straight through the man and into the banister, which gave way beneath her.

The last thing she saw was the front hall's floor speeding up to meet her.

**-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-**

"Sweetheart?...can you hear me?"

Sakura's green eyes snapped open. She was in bed, and her family and Shizune were crowded around her four poster. "What...where's the guy in the suit?"

"Sorry dear?," Tsunade asked. She was wearing a bright pink nightgown which Sakura had never seen her in. "Ohh no...she's hallucinating"

"No mom," Sakura said, rolling her eyes. "There was this guy in a suit on the walkway..."

"I think she's broken," Naruto joked. "Maybe we should put her down?" he barely had time to laugh before Jiraya slapped him over the back of the head.

"Sakura sweetheart, you fell through the banister and onto the stairs. You might have a concussion." Tsunade began drawing her finger in front of Sakura's eyes, checking her responsiveness. "Shizune, do you have any painkillers?"

Shizune nodded. "I'll go find them."

"Naruto and I will help," Jiraya said, tunring to the doorway.

"But I want to be here to see her throw up."

"Naruto..." the boy sighed, and followed his father out of her room.

As soon as they were gone, Sakura started again. "Mom, you have to believe me...I saw someone out there...someone who looked like Sasuke..."

"Sak, please, don't make up stories this late. I have work tomorrow." Tsunade kissed her on the forehead, then turned to pour her some water from a jug on the table next to her bed. "There's no such thing as ghosts, okay?"

"Okay," Sakura sighed, rolling over to look out her tiny litte window. She may have agreed with her mother, but Sakura knew the truth.

Sasuke Uchiha was still in this house.


End file.
